It's Not Like I Like You or Anything
by wellthizizdeprezzing
Summary: In which Weiss is a tsundere and Ruby is confused. (Under construction)
1. Chapter 1

**It's Not Like I Like You or Anything**

 _Chapter One: What? Are you mad?_

Ruby Rose was confused. She wasn't often confused, only about social cues and friend making and maybe the occasional school subject or two. Yet, she found that to be her state of mind much more frequently nowadays and it had something to do with the white haired girl on her team. Weiss Schnee had been cold and standoffish to Ruby at first, and Ruby had been understanding. Weiss was used to being a leader, to getting everything she ever wanted, so when Ruby had gotten the spot of team leader, naturally Weiss had been more than just a little ticked off.

Ruby gave her some time to cool off, and tried her best to fulfill her new obligations. But being team leader was something entirely new to her. She wasn't used to being the center of attention. She wasn't one to make friends easily. Or to command other people around. Really, Weiss seemed a good fit for that. Or even Yang, Ruby's older sister. Which left Ruby wondering why Ozpin had chosen her for the position. Had he wanted to knock Weiss' self confidence and ego down a couple pegs, because that was what Weiss thought of it, mumbling under her breath about the headmaster's stupid choice when she thought no one was listening.

Ruby tended to avoid Weiss when she was in a foul mood like that. But Ruby couldn't avoid her forever, because they were on the same team and they did live in the same room together, _and_ Ruby was _her_ leader. So it often fell upon her shoulders to check up on her teammates status. Like now.

"Hey, Weiss," Ruby greeted, awkwardly trying to casually slide on over to where Weiss was pouring over some textbooks, taking down notes. She didn't respond so Ruby figured the girl hadn't heard her, studying too hard.

"Hey Weis-"

"I heard you the first time," Weiss sharply cut in.

"Oh, alright," Ruby was taken aback by the tone of Weiss' voice. It was one that sounded a lot like 'go away'. But Ruby had to be a good team leader even if she hadn't wanted the position. "I was just, um, wondering how are things holding up?"

"Good." Was the curt reply. Weiss still hadn't bothered to look up at Ruby.

"Uh, well, that's...good," Ruby said for a lack of a better term. She scuffed the carpet with her toe, thinking of how best to phrase her next question without making Weiss too mad. "But...I was wondering," at this she took a big inhale before rushing the words out. "Are you still upset about me being team leader?"

Weiss' pencil snapped in half. "No, of course I'm not mad. And I'm definitely, most certainly, absolutely, not mad at _you_! Why would you think that?" Weiss' voice was too high in pitch to be normal and her eyebrow was doing that weird twitching thing. Which meant she _was_ mad.

Ruby was afraid to talk about it, but she knew it was the right thing to do. The kind of thing a leader would do. "Do you maybe wanna talk about it? Cause you seem mad-"

"What is there to talk about?" Weiss turned her head to Ruby fixing her with a smile that did not match the flames of war in her eyes. It made chills run down Ruby's back and she felt like if she didn't go she'd have something thrown at her head.

"Uh, okay. Gotta go," and with that Ruby ran away. It was time to initiate plan B, better known as Ask Yang.

"Yannnnnnnnnng!" Ruby whined, slamming the door to their shared room open. Blake startled at the loud noise, nearly losing her precarious position from where she sat cross legged, balancing on one of her bed posts reading a book. Yang wasn't bothered by the noise, her being used to it from all her years of living with Ruby. It was a trait they shared in fact; slamming doors whenever they got excited or had something important to say or ask.

"What's up, Rubes?" Yang swiveled in her chair.

"Yang, Weiss is being hard to talk to. Again."

"What did she do this time?"

"I tried to ask her if she was still mad about the whole thing on how I got picked to be leader over her, and she said she wasn't mad but she was _maaaad_. Like real mad. And I don't know what else to do because I wanted to talk to her about it but she doesn't want to and I don't know what else to do because as team leader it's my job to make sure all of you are okay but she's not okay and she won't let me make her okay, and it's so weird how she's still so mad over this, it's been like four weeks!" Ruby at long last finished speaking, drawing in a huge gasp of air.

"Ruby, don't worry about it. Some people just tend to be grumpy pants, and sore losers, and Weiss is both of those. She'll get over it eventually. Just give her some time."

"Thanks Yang! You're the best!" Ruby gave Yang a hug, those simple three sentences making her feel better already.

Ruby was going to wait for Weiss to get over her hurt feelings.

She stayed out of Weiss' hair for a good two weeks before she grew impatient and had to ask. The white haired girl was still deriding Ruby's leadership skills and it was beginning to make the small girl upset and demoralized.

"Weiss," she called out, following the girl down the hall in between classes. "Are you still mad at me?"

"No Ruby, I'm not," Weiss called back, walking faster. But Ruby had a quick semblance; Weiss wouldn't be outwalking her any time.

"Are you sure?" she asked, making Weiss yelp in shock. The white haired girl hadn't heard Ruby approach her at all, the brunette now walking side by side with Weiss. Weiss tried to increase her walking speed but Ruby easily kept up. "Are you _sure_ , sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Weiss huffed breathlessly, sweat pouring down her face as she power walked.

"Because you act all mean and huffy and criticize me a lot," Ruby poked her pointer fingers together bashfully.

"That's just called giving good feedback. It doesn't mean I'm mad," Weiss was now jogging. Ruby was still keeping pace with her by walking.

"But-"

"Ruby, leave me alone! I'm trying to go study!" Weiss was now running, and Ruby was still walking! How did she even do that? Weiss wondered breathlessly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you!" Ruby apologized before stopping. Weiss turned her head to the side upon Ruby's disappearance. Damn that girl was quick. No where was she to be seen in the halls. Weiss was only more infuriated by Ruby's cool semblance abilities. That girl had everything going for her- cool powers, a loving sister, the leadership position, and a cute face- Weiss frowned. A cute face? Was Weiss jealous of Ruby's cute face? Why? Weiss liked her own face much better. It was elegant and refined and had nicely arched brows. Minus the scar over her eye, it would be what people described as a perfect ten out of ten.

Maybe Weiss was just jealous that because of Ruby's cute features, like how her eyes would light up in joy, and how she would pout when she was sad, she could easily get things from people, could sway them. Weiss couldn't bat her eyes at someone for extra cookies. They'd think she was having an epilepsy, right after laughing at her awkward attempts.

Weiss who had still been running, lost in her thoughts, ran into something.

"Ouch..." she moaned, grabbing her hurt forehead. Luckily for her she had a hard head. Very hard.

Someone under her also moaned, and she opened her eyes to see she was sitting on some poor blonde haired boy's lap, his whole body sprawled out under her.

"Weiss!" He stammered out, flushing beet red when he saw who had ran into him and who was now sitting on his lap. The gorgeous heiress herself. Jaune felt like the Gods were on his side. He had had a crush on Weiss ever since he entered Beacon and saw her in the halls. All he had ever wanted was a chance to talk to her. And now here she was, sitting on his lap!

"Are you okay?" he asked, although he was the one with the bruise forming under his eye.

"I'm fine," Weiss said, trying to stop herself from getting embarrassed over this. What kind of a Schnee was she that she couldn't watch where she was going. No, it wasn't her fault- it was this guy's! "But you should watch where you're going next time," she reprimanded.

"Yea, uh sorry," a flustered Jaune apologized, not wanting the heiress to think lowly of him. She got up with a sniff and he hurried to his feet, following after her as she flipped her lopsided ponytail over her shoulder in an effort to regain some calm over the incident. "But are you okay? What were you running from?"

Weiss' shoulders tensed up at this. Dust, what was the issue with everyone today and in trying to ask her if she was okay? She turned on her heel and stared at the boy, whose name she couldn't at all recall. Did he even go here? "I'll kindly ask you to take your concern and stick it where the sun don't shine." Then with that, she left an open mouthed Jaune standing in the halls as she left to go finally study.

"Wow," he breathed out after a long moment, stunned by the cool tones of her voice and that piercing blue gaze. "I think I like her even more now."

* * *

Ruby didn't give up after that incident, however. She really didn't want Weiss to be mad, but she couldn't see that by constantly bringing the issue up, it was making the whole loss of leadership position sting even more for Weiss.

"Weissss," Ruby called out, spotting the white haired girl in the cafeteria. "Are you still mad at me?"

"No, Ruby. Now stop asking." Weiss said with too much force as she stabbed down so hard on her food with her fork that she broke her utensil.

That was the third week.

On the fourth week, Ruby found Weiss while she was in the showers.

"Weissssss!" Ruby's voice echoed off of the tiles. "Are you still mad-" she pulled open the shower door to peek in to make sure Weiss was really there and listening to her.

The heiress let out a high pitched scream and went to cover her private parts and chest. "Ruby, GET OUT!"

"Okay, but are you mad-"

"I swear to dust Ruby, if you don't leave, these showers will rain blood, YOUR blood."

"Okay..." Ruby mumbled wearily before closing the door slowly.

Weiss let out a sigh, feeling her heart rate slow down once more. Seriously, could she not even enjoy her showers in peace? She picked up the bar of soap she had dropped in favor of covering up and began to wash up once more.

"But just for clarification," Ruby's head popped back in and Weiss dropped the bar of soap she had been holding as an animalistic scream began to bubble up in her throat. "Are you mad at me right now because of the shower thing or because of the leader-"

"RUBY!" Weiss let out the scream and Ruby gave a yelp as she fled, only her semblance saving her from Weiss's outstretched murderous hands.

Dejectedly, Ruby slammed the door open to their shared room, Yang immediately knowing what her younger sister's mood was by the type of door slam it was. If she was sad, then the door sounded like it was screaming in pain as it slammed open. If Ruby was happy then the door slam was accompanied by flowers. And if she was angry, then it was violently ripped off of it's hinges and used to decimate the rest of the room that Ruby had entered.

But Yang knew Ruby was dejected because the door slam was but a soft sigh.

"What happened this time Rubes?" Yang asked, swiveling in her chair. Blake glanced up shortly from her book that she had been reading on her bed post before going back to it. The drama in her book was currently less stressful to deal with than this, so she was going to ignore her teammates again.

"Weiss is still mad at me. And I tried waiting."

"Try waiting some more, but without bothering her at all this time. She's really stubborn. I can tell."

"Thanks Yang! That's such great advice!" And a happy Ruby skipped out of the room, humming to herself.

So Ruby waited again. This time, she decided not bothering Weiss meant she had to completely ignore the white haired girl.

Which made Weiss confused. Because Ruby was doing a really bad job of it.

"Hey Weiss!" she'd greet in between classes, only for her eyes to go wide like she'd made some huge mistake. "Stupid, you're not supposed to be bothering her." And then she'd tug painfully on her hair tips and run off quickly before Weiss could so much as arch an eyebrow in question. This behavior would repeat itself over and over, and you'd think Ruby would eventually learn but she didn't, making the same mistakes every time.

And this behavior from Ruby was only making Weiss more mad. And a mad Weiss meant tyrannical control over the rest of the team's homework habits.

"Blake, stop reading porn and do your work-"

"It's not porn, it's fanfiction-" Blake said defensively as she cradled her scroll to her chest protectively, hoping to hide the sex scene between her two favorite characters that she had just been reading.

"-same difference," Weiss powered on, hands on hips and glaring down at her teammates who were seated at a table, cowering under her imposing icy blue stare. "Yang, stop eating, you're getting crumbs all over your work-"

"But I'm a big girl, I need to eat," Yang said, flexing a muscle for demonstration.

"-and you'll be an even _bigger_ girl if you don't stop!" Weiss prodded Yang's slightly chubby cheeks, full of some hastily stuffed granola bar.

"Low blow," she murmured, her bicep deflating in dejection.

"And Ruby!"

Now it was Ruby's turn to fear what Weiss would say next, the heiress seeming to be thrice her size, towering over poor Ruby. She pulled her hood up, hoping it would protect her from the ire spitting out of Weiss' mouth. "Stop lollygagging around! Your stupidity can reflect poorly on all of us since you're leader, and I will not tolerate your bad grades bringing us down! Now get to work!"

"Yes Weiss," Ruby yelped out and began to hastily scribble down notes.

All of the team was reading and writing and diligently studying, if not shivering a little in fear of Weiss as she stood hands on her hips and watched, chin jutting out proudly. This was more like it. This was how it should be. Everyone under her command, and taking her orders. Leadership was a natural fit for her. She still couldn't understand why Ozpin had picked Ruby over her. Weiss was a natural born leader; she had the knowledge to back it up, and the skill. Had Ozpin skipped over her because of her family and their cruelty to faunus? But Weiss had no part in that. She had wanted to escape it by becoming a huntress. And what better way to prove how serious she was than by being the leader of a successful team?

But nooooo, Ozpin had to pick Ruby. Ruby who was small, young, innocent, naive, childish and had a face that was too cute to take seriously.

With her stupid big silver eyes that you could get lost in, and soft round cheeks that begged to be kissed, and cute button nose that wrinkled up in the cutest way.

Weiss only got more irritated at thinking all that, and took out her anger at Yang. "Yang, stop breathing so loudly! You sound like a dragon!"

"But I can't help it!"

"Then don't breath at all!"

"But then I'll die!"

"That sounds like a personal issue." Weiss concluded coldly.

After that terrible review session, Yang and Ruby had a quick meeting, under the covers of Yang's bed, whispering because Weiss was in the same room as them getting ready to go to sleep.

"Yang, what are we going to do? Weiss is super pissed now. I've given her space but it seems like the space just made it worse!" Ruby whisper whined. The small glow of Yang's scroll was lighting up the dark space, revealing Ruby's distressed expression only made more distressed by the weird lighting angles.

"Eventually-"

"But Yang, it's already been eventually! How much longer can I wait!"

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Blake inquired as she slid her way in under the covers. "Can I know?"

"It's about Weiss. And how she's still mad at Ruby." Yang was beginning to sweat under the covers. It was really hot under here and especially with her high natural body temperature and the heat of three others joining her.

"Hmmm," Blake hummed. "Did you listen to Yang's advice Ruby?"

"I did!" Ruby protested. "But it didn't work!"

"Just give it more time, Ruby. Eventually-" Yang didn't get to finish.

Weiss who had just come out of the bathroom, freshly showered, noticed that there was an odd situation going on. She could make out the rears of Ruby and Blake sticking out from under the lumpy cover's of Yang's bed. Whispering was coming from there too...what were they doing?

Weiss walked over and snatched the covers off, causing screams to elicit from all three teammates hidden there. They sounded like they had been caught by some horror movie monster and were about to be devoured, but it was only Weiss. "What are you three doing here?"

"They got cold so they were gonna cuddle with me!" was the hasty explanation.

"We're talking about you!" was the guilty admission.

"We're having a threesome!" was the unfortunate slip up.

Everyone's eyes swiveled to Blake.

"What? I just meant like...you know, one where- a threesome of talking, sheesh!" she began to color in her cheeks when her teammates didn't look too convinced. "Get your minds out of the gutter." But it was her mind which had been in the gutter. She really needed to be more careful when she spoke; her fanfiction addiction might come to light.

The rest of the team decided to ignore that slip up. "Yang, it's not even cold enough for any of us to require borrowing your body heat- it's the middle of spring right now. And Ruby, you were talking about me?" Weiss felt a little hurt that her teammates seemed to be talking about her behind her back. Or behind the covers, more accurately.

Ruby nodded her head but Yang quickly clamped a hand over her younger sister's mouth before she could bury them deeper. "Ruby wasn't talking about you, but, uh, _You_."

Weiss arched a brow. "I don't get the difference."

"There's a guy named You. He's new to the school. And we were just talking about him. Because it seems like You has a crush on Ruby!"

"Whoa, for real?" Ruby ripped Yang's hand off of her face. "I didn't know that! I want to meet this new You guy-" Yang slapped her hand onto Ruby's mouth once more before the brunette ruined things. Because Ruby actually believed that You was a real guy and Yang couldn't explain that he wasn't without giving them away.

"Hm."

It was hard to tell if Weiss was convinced or not because her face was as smooth as ice right now. Yang sweated some more, hoping that Weiss would buy into it. Blake just calmly sat there, trying not to die from mortification of what she had blurted out moments ago, while Ruby struggled against Yang's hold which only tightened the harder she struggled. Ruby was finding it hard to breathe.

"Okay, but then Ruby confirmed she was talking about me-"

"Another new guy. Me is You's brother." Yang was so glad her many years of studying puns was paying off. She'd never thought it'd be used in saving her life, she'd always assumed it'd be more of getting her a career on stage.

A long silence passed in which Ruby was starting to go blue in the face. And in which Yang's face sweated some more until it began to drip down onto her shirt front, and in which Blake continued to fret over her verbal slip up. Weiss's gaze was unrelenting. She felt like she was missing something here...but was it really important? The rest of her teammates liked to get involved in silly schemes. She wasn't going to let herself get drawn into that.

"Okay...I'm going to let this slide for now. But you'd better cut these shenanigans out because I'm going to bed!" Weiss reminded sharply, dropping the topic. All three of her teammates were acting odd but she decided it wasn't worth investigating.

When Weiss finally climbed into bed only then did they all relax. Yang let go of Ruby's mouth, the girl finally able to breathe. "We just dodged a bullet," Yang said, wiping the sweat off of her face as Ruby took deep swallows of air.

"Sleep!" Weiss reminded them, causing all three to flinch. They decided it was a good idea to go to bed to avoid unlocking Weiss' wrath.

* * *

Thus, Ruby was forced to continue waiting it out for Weiss' bitterness to end. But it was really, _really_ , taking a long time and Ruby didn't know how much longer she could wait.

"Yangggggg," she whined to her sister as they walked down the halls.

"Eventually," her sister reminded her.

"Yannnnnnnnnnnnng," Ruby whined during lunch.

"Eventually," Yang said resolutely.

"Yanggggggggggggg," Ruby said in a gasping breath as she and Yang just got back from another one of Weiss' brutal tutoring sessions.

"Even...tually," she gasped back, dragging her limp body to her bed so she could sleep off the violent way knowledge had been crammed into her brain.

 _Yangggggggggg_ Ruby passed a note to Yang in class during a test.

…. _Eventually_ , Yang passed one back, only to have the teacher catch them. Oobleck looked at them in confusion when he actually read what was on the notes. "You weren't cheating...?"

"Unless you count writing these two words as cheating, then no." Yang had shrugged.

Oobleck shrugged back, deciding this was not worth his time.

Then at the gym, "Yaaaaaaaaaaang," as Ruby dodged a fist to her face thrown by Yang.

This time Yang said with less confidence, "Eventually."

And finally, at the library where Weiss was berating all of them for failing on a team task. "Yang." Short, simple, to the point.

Yang sighed. "Fine."

The plan was to make Weiss proud of her team, and to make her see Ruby was worthy of her leadership position.

"And how do we do that?" Ruby asked eagerly. She was done waiting around- how many months had it already been? Like seven? That was a really long time to let an issue got unresolved.

Yang rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I think I got some sort of plan. Just leave it all up to me. And Nora." And with that she darted out the door to get in contact with the orange haired girl, her fellow partner in devious crimes.

"Okay." Ruby was perfectly content in allowing Yang handle things. Blake had doubts, but not about Yang.

"I have a bad feeling."

"Why?" Ruby turned her innocent gaze on Blake who shuddered as memories hit her. "Because whenever Nora is involved in something, it doesn't end well." Blake could still remember when Nora had tried to help Blake with breakfast so they could 'bond'. The only thing that had bonded that day was the melted kitchen appliances to the floors and walls of the devastated kitchen.

"Oops, sorry about that," Nora had giggled. "I wanted the toaster to work faster and I thought my semblance would give it a kick. But I guess it was _too_ much of a kick."

Blake had stood their mutely, soot faced and slightly burnt as electrocuted hair still sparked occasionally. Blake swore to never cross paths with Nora again.

And Blake's bad feeling proved true. The plan was to have Nora and Yang dress up as thugs and attack Weiss as she was walking downtown. Ruby would then show up, and save the heiress, thus proving her good leadership and hero like qualities. But before Ruby could even appear, Weiss had wiped the floor with Nora and Yang, proving there to be no need for a savior.

Ruby was stuck right back where she started, and Yang and Nora had a matching pair of bruises around their eyes. "Not to worry, Rubes. I'll get this situation straightened out." For now, Weiss wasn't only angry at Ruby but also at Yang for that stupid plan. Of course when Yang had asked, Weiss had merely scoffed. "I'm not angry." Which meant she was.

And in her anger she had decided she needed to confide in someone. Weiss was becoming irritated with these two idiot sisters. One for being too cute and in taking her position of power, and the other for being dumb and meddlesome. The only neutral ground Weiss could see was Blake, so she approached the dark haired girl, who was perched in her usual spot, on the bedpost reading a book.

"Blake. I have a favor to ask you. And since you're so quiet, friendless, and anti-social, than I know I can trust you to keep it a secret."

Blake didn't think that was a good way going about talking to someone if you wanted their help, but this was Weiss, and she could be a touch blunt and insensitive.

"What is is?" she said reluctantly, only because she hated getting involved with other people's issues.

"I'm in a real conundrum because both Ruby and Yang seem insistent on bothering me. They want to make sure I'm not mad at them which only makes me mad when they ask. Because I am not mad! Extremely not!" Blake rolled her eyes subtly at this. Everyone who had eyes could see Weiss was still pretty upset at the choice Ozpin made. Even Ozpin knew and had invited Weiss to his office to chat about it. Weiss had of course refuted his statements to which he didn't seem convinced either.

"And I don't know what to do to get them to stop asking me. I've tried being reasonable and answering their questions. I've tried ignoring them. I've tried...well, that's all I've really tried, but I don't know another way to go about this." Weiss let out a sigh, feeling some stress leave her shoulders at divulging this information to Blake.

The cat faunus had waited quietly for Weiss to finish. "Well, why don't you tell them your _real_ feelings?"

"Real...feelings?" Weiss' eyes opened wide. "Tell...them?" At this a laugh bubbled it's way out of her throat and she began to laugh hysterically as she walked out the door. "HAHAHA FEELINGS! REAL FEELINGS! Schnee's don't have those!"

Blake watched, half terrified and half concerned as the heiress made her exit. "Boy, she's got some serious denial issues there." And then she turned back to her book because it was not her problem to deal with.

* * *

"Ruby, your form is wrong. You should know better as team leader."

"Ruby, stop losing focus on class. You should be paying attention as team leader."

"Ruby, stop eating all those cookies. They're bad for your health as team leader."

Each disparaging comment made Ruby feel even more down. Weiss was being extra picky today and it made Ruby's happy mood sour quicker than milk left out. Which made Yang's mood hotter than a fire. Because she hated seeing Ruby sad. It made her angry. And even more angry when she had to stop Ruby from crying which she had been doing when Yang followed her to the bathroom. She hated a crying Ruby. Whoever made Ruby cry was going to be hurt.

"What is up with Weiss today? She's being extra...Weiss-y," Yang said angrily, sticking out her tongue to think of a good way to describe the heiress.

"I gave her some advice. I don't think she took it well." Blake shrugged, packing away her notebooks for the next class.

"What kind of advice?"

"Told her to be true to her emotions. And then she started laughing. It was kind of scary."

"Hmmm, scary, you say," Yang rubbed her chin, deep in thought. Then she smiled as an idea came to her head.

About a day or two later, Yang had finally come up with the perfect way to fix all of the team's issues. She cornered Weiss in the hallway after class, cracking her knuckles as she approached. "Weiss," she greeted curtly with a nod of her head. She made sure to stand in a way that it would back Weiss into the lockers.

"Yang?" Weiss raised a brow in question, swallowing deeply when she noticed how red Yang's eyes were. That was never a good sign.

"Weiss, I don't know what your problem with Ruby is, but you'd better cut it out and real fast, or I will _cut_ you."

" _Cut me_?" Weiss' heart thumped in her chest heavily. Yang looked deadly serious right now, which wasn't a good sign either.

"You made Ruby cry. And you know how much I hate when Ruby cries."

"O-oh," Weiss swallowed deeply. "I hadn't meant to make her cry." She truly hadn't but what would Yang care. Ruby had still been crying.

"Didn't seem that way to me. Now, are you going to stop being a salty bitch and let this grudge go, or do I have to do some talking with my fists?"

"No, I got the message. Loud and clear." Weiss nodded her head, slightly sweating under the collar as Yang peered in, eyeing Weiss hard. Weiss tried to back up even more but she couldn't as she had no where else to go, cold metal lockers pressing into her back.

"Good." Yang pulled back at last. "See you around later." Like a switch, Yang's happy mood was back and she ruffled up Weiss' hair before strolling off back to her room.

Weiss stood there a moment more, trying to regain her calm. That had been scary. But from then on whatever bitterness Weiss had felt from being passed over as team leader dispersed, because if there was one thing Weiss was more of afraid of than failure, it was an angry and overprotective Yang.

 **A/N: So, this is...something. Don't know where I'm going with this, but end game is WhiteRose. Just wanted to write Weiss as a tsundere cause she seems to fit the character archetype pretty well.**


	2. Chapter 2

**It's Not Like I Like You or Anything**

 _Chapter Two: Huh?_

It was only in the last two months of school that team RWBY were finally able to get along with no issues. Or at least without the big issue, which Yang had dubbed the Ice Age. It was the seven month period in which Weiss had been salty about Ruby's leadership position but all had been made right when Yang had told Weiss to stop harassing her sister or else there'd be hell to pay. And Weiss had taken it seriously. With her no longer being mean to Ruby, the team was actually doing better on all their tests and team tasks. And such good progress made Weiss happy.

So maybe Weiss had been in the wrong in looking down on Ruby. So maybe the girl _did_ have actual skills. And so maybe she _was_ a great leader. But it wasn't like Weiss was going to admit that out loud. She couldn't, or else everyone would think she actually approved of Ruby as leader. She was just...neutral about it.

Okay, so maybe she was still a bit butt hurt about it, but it didn't bother her nearly as much as it had before. And it was due to how much more time she was spending with Ruby both on and off the battle field. With Weiss tearing down her frosty demeanor, Ruby had warmed right up to her and they talked a lot more now, and about stuff other than school work and training. And talking to the girl was...nice. Almost fun. And it often times distracted Weiss from her work ethic which lead Weiss to scolding Ruby to stop bothering her but Ruby would only smile that small little smile and Weiss would stop in the middle of her tirade, getting side tracked by it and the warm feelings it invoked in her.

But most of all, Weiss was just glad this whole ridiculous thing was behind them. She couldn't believe how stubborn she was and she kind of felt bad about it. Guilty, and pained for making Ruby cry. That had never been her intention. So she intended to apologize to Ruby.

But she didn't know how. So naturally, she asked her confidant for advice. Blake had quickly become someone she could trust because the dark haired girl was so quiet and she listened really well to what the heiress had to say.

"I want to apologize to Ruby," Weiss had said with gravity as she sat down on the chair, one she had positioned in front of Blake's spot, the bed post on which she perched to read her book.

Weiss often had to wonder if that was even comfortable. How could Blake balance up there for hours?

"Then do it," Blake said bluntly, already trying to turn back to her book. She'd never asked for Weiss to come to her to spill her guts, but it was happening, and more and more frequently.

"I will! I just don't think a verbal apology will be enough. So I wanted some advice on what to do."

"Buy her something nice, then."

"I would, but I don't want it to seem like I'm buying her forgiveness. I want it to be more like a 'hang out' sort of thing. Where we can strengthen our bonds."

"So...a date?"

"Yes, a date, I mean no!" Weiss huffed angrily at Blake for that. The cat faunus arched a brow, a coy smile on her face.

"Not a romantic one. Just a f-friendly one." Weiss began to blush as she said the word friend. Could she consider Ruby a friend? That was a big step. She didn't know if she could handle it. She just wanted to be on better terms with the girl for now.

"Then take her some place she might like. Treat her to food. Or to a movie. I don't see why you need my advice for this, or why you need to cut in on my reading time." The last sentence was said low enough that human hearing couldn't pick it up.

"That all sounds like reasonable suggestions. I wasn't quite sure what teens did nowadays for fun."

Blake gave Weiss an odd look. "You do realize we're all the same age. Why are you acting like you're suddenly older than all of us?"

But Weiss was already up and leaving, intent on fixing her mistake of giving Ruby the cold shoulder for seven months straight. Sometimes, Weiss hated how stubborn she could get when it came to arguments. But Yang, and the threat of her fists, made Weiss want to make that less of an issue. So she was going to make things up to Ruby, even if she normally didn't apologize for her blunders.

Swallowing down her Schnee pride, she sought out Ruby who was sitting on the work bench in their weapons workshop, the brunette cleaning her Crescent Rose. It was after hours but Ruby liked to spend a lot of time with her weapons. One time Weiss had spotted the girl swaddling up her scythe in a blanket and then reading it a bed time story like one does to a child. Weiss had quickly backtracked out of that room, opting to erase the image from her mind.

"Ruby, I wanted to tell you something." Weiss stopped in, looking a bit shyly at Ruby.

Ruby looked up from her meticulous cleaning to smile at Weiss. It was such a warm smile, as if Ruby hadn't seen Weiss in years. "Hey Weiss. I'm glad to see you down here. Did you come to check up on me? Did you come to talk?"

Weiss found herself a bit wordless at the smile. Had Ruby always smiled like that, and for her? "Uh, well I came to tell you something. But then I have to go."

"What is it?" Ruby put her weapon aside so she could give Weiss the full attention of her bright silvery eyes.

Weiss felt more self conscious under their stare but then she reminded herself she was a Schnee and that bolstered her confidence. "I came to say I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Ruby tilted her head cutely in confusion.

"I was, very unprofessional and rude to you our first couple of months here. And I shouldn't have been. I was merely upset at my own shortcomings and I took that anger out at you because you were an easy target. It was irresponsible and immature of me to do so and I hope you can forgive me for it." Weiss keep her eyes on Ruby despite wanting to turn them away for fear of rejection.

"Oh Weiss. I've already forgiven you!" Ruby gave a small little laugh.

That was surprising. But Weiss didn't let it show. "That may be the case but the fact still remains I caused you quite some anguish and I would like to do something to make it up to you. Like a nice dinner. Or a show or something."

"Weiss, it's okay. You don't have to do any of that-"

"I insist."

"Well..." Ruby trailed off, thinking hard. "What about this weapon's expo-"

That was where Weiss drew the line. "Ruby, no. That is no place for a young girl like you-"

"Let's go see the weapon's expo, please oh please!" Ruby had begged, making puppy dog eyes at Weiss who was trying and failing not to succumb to Ruby's charms. Now that Ruby had latched onto the idea of the weapon's expo she was hard pressed to let it go. And Weiss was hard pressed to resist her.

 _Stupid, cute face!_ "Ruby, I told you that is not a place for someone of your age and-"

At the upcoming rejection Ruby's lips began to quiver and Weiss felt her own resolve start to quiver. "Okay, but only for a little bit." She found herself saying and then cursed her own mouth for blabbing that out.

"Yay! Thank you Weiss!" Ruby hugged Weiss before skipping off to her next class.

Weiss stood still, surprised by the physical touch. She knew Ruby was very huggy but she hadn't expected the girl to hug her. No one ever dared to really touch Weiss unless they wanted her father's wrath on their heads. It felt nice...to be hugged. Very comforting. But it wasn't like Weiss liked it or anything.

"Weiss, you okay? You look frozen," Yang chuckled at her own pun and Weiss rolled her eyes. Ever since Weiss had reconciled with the team, Yang had taken it upon herself to make cold jokes, to 'break the ice' between them. And they were horrendous, plaguing Weiss, well, like a plague. Really, Weiss was not cool with them at all. And damn it, now she was making cold puns in her own thoughts too! Was there no escape from this?!

With a scream she ran off to out run her thoughts, leaving Yang to scratch her head in worry, wondering what had happened. "Was it really that bad?"

Blake who had been standing silently around, behind Yang, nodded her head tiredly yes. She'd been the poor unfortunate victim of the all the material that Yang used; the blonde trying it out on her first before it 'hit the streets'. No matter how much Blake cringed and didn't laugh at Yang's jokes, Yang just thought Blake was one of those quiet laughers, like really quiet, so quiet you couldn't hear them, and figured the material was green lit to go.

But it wasn't.

It was _never_ okay.

* * *

And so the following evening, Weiss found herself with a very excitable Ruby in the middle of the weapon's expo. "Oh my gosh, Weiss, come look at this. Come look at that. Wow, did you see the lasers on that one. And look at this tiny one. How can you even use it? I wish I could use that one? Do you think they'd let me try it?" Ruby was a never ending stream of questions and exclamations of excitement as she tugged Weiss haphazardly by the wrist from one glass display to another. It was like being tugged by a puppy.

Weiss wished they hadn't come here, but she owed it to Ruby to make it up to her and so she'd suck it up and pretend like she was having fun. Ruby's enthusiasm proved to be very infectious because soon she had Weiss actually paying attention as she went at length on describing a certain weapon.

"And this thing is just amazing! Not only can it shoot .75 caliber rounds at the speeds of 60 per minute but it also comes with a scope and a target lock that means you'll never miss! Plus it transforms into a chainsaw. How freaken cool is that! With the chainsaw's enhanced diamond saws, it can cut through almost anything!" Ruby certainly knew a lot about this weapon.

"Have you been studying this weapon a lot?" Weiss asked, a touch curious.

Ruby nodded her head up and down. "You bet! I always thought of getting this if I couldn't build Crescent Rose. I still plan on getting one later, but for fun purposes."

What these fun purposes were, Weiss didn't want to know. If was best not to think about the type of fun a chainsaw gun could do. Yet Ruby looked so childlike when she was all hyper over weapons like this. It reminded Weiss once more how young she was. And if it really was an okay idea to have someone so young in battle school.

Weiss must have zoned out for a while because Ruby's expression had changed. "Oh oh," the brunette intoned, eyes past Weiss's head. Weiss turned around just in time to see the entrance of some unsavory figures.

She immediately recognized one of them by his stupid top hat. Roman Torchwick. And behind him, his twenty or so henchmen. Already the guests here were panicking and running off. There wasn't a doubt as to the notorious man's identity.

"Ruby-" Weiss turned to the younger girl, with the need to debrief quickly on what to do- obviously they had to stop the bad guys because they weren't going to be here for an innocent reason like window shopping or admiring the goods.

"I know," Ruby said sternly, face serious and eyes determined. And it was in these type of moments that Weiss was reminded how ready Ruby was to be a hero.

They used one of their mutually designed strategy combat plans ( and by mutually, meaning Weiss came up with it and Ruby was argued and verbally beaten into agreement on it ) to make quick work of the villain and his crew who had been here predictably to nab some of the newest models of weapons for themselves and their future dastardly deeds.

Roman had tried to escape to let his henchmen take the fall but Ruby had got him just as he had been making his move. The cigar between his lips had gotten blown out causing him to yelp in shock, Ruby's sniper shots scarily precise for someone this young.

"Stop right there, Torchwick, unless you want my next shot to be much, _much_ closer," she said, approaching him, sniper gun locked in on him. Weiss had just finished dropping the last of the henchmen, the rest lying in various funny angles, all unconscious. She strode up with Ruby, fencing sword by her side.

"Alright, ladies, it's seems you got me," he smiled, lips twitching where the bullet had been close to scraping. "I'll surrender and go quietly if you don't do me any harm."

Ruby lowered her weapon, thinking the villain was going to stay by his word but Weiss knew better. She summoned a glyph just in the nick of time. Roman had been leaning onto his cane which doubled as a weapon, and his hand had tightened around it, to light it up, but Weiss' quick glyph pattern underneath him, spread ice on the floor that froze both his legs and his cane in place.

"What the-" he grunted out in frustration as he found he could neither swing his cane up to fire at them or move his feet. "You scoundrels!" he shook his fist at them. But Weiss couldn't care less about his ire.

"Ruby! You can't be that trusting next time. He was going to attack us!"

"I know. I'm sorry Weiss." Ruby looked down and Weiss hated seeing Ruby down but she had to remind her, because this wasn't a mistake Ruby could afford to make on the field.

Weiss sighed.

"Let's call the cops and get these guys locked away for good." She strode off to call them on her Scroll.

* * *

Since Weiss felt like their last date, erhm, outing, it was definitely only an outing, was ruined, she needed to make it up to Ruby again. "I'm taking you to the bake shop this time," she had announced. "Because last time our dat- I mean, trip, didn't work out so well, and I'll be damned if my apologies look lackluster."

"Weiss, it's okay-"

"No Ruby, it's not." And with that all discussion had been shut down and plans were made to go to the bakery this weekend. The outing once more found Ruby excitably rushing around and peering from one display window to another, having a serious debate of pros and cons on which desserts she wanted.

Weiss didn't find this cute at all. At _all_. "You can have more than one. Just hurry up and make a choice. I don't have all day here," Weiss had scoffed. Ruby's face fell a little at hearing that Weiss was inconvenienced because of her but then she smiled brightly.

"I can have more than one!?" She squealed.

"Yes," Weiss said. Ruby wasn't cute _at all_ when she was that happy.

Especially not in the way she chewed delightfully on one of her now many acquired cookies. It made Weiss want to pinch her chubby cheeks- and oops, it looked like she was doing it.

"Weiss?" Ruby had a questioning look in her eyes, stopping mid bite as Weiss stretched out Ruby's cheek.

Inside Weiss was freaking the fuck out over what her hand had just done without her permission but outside she maintained a smooth facade. "Your cheeks are getting fat. Maybe you shouldn't eat all those cookies." There, that should fix things.

Ruby looked hurt for a second. "Then why did you buy a lot for me?"

And now the guilt was settling in for saying something so mean. But Weiss couldn't help it. When she got defensive she got mean and it usually shut people up. But being mean to Ruby didn't work that way.

Luckily Weiss was saved from having to answer because the front door of the shop was blown in. "Give me all your money. This is a stick up!" A shot was fired into the air and the customers dropped under their tables with screams.

Weiss turned around slowly in her seat to see that it was Roman Torchwick and his cronies once more. How had he gotten out of prison already?

A click came behind Weiss' head. It was Ruby, already unfolding Crescent Rose to it's full length. "Protect my cookies, Weiss," she said and then went off to greet Roman.

"Oh, Little Red. Fancy seeing you here again. And is that your friend with the Popsicle making powers there?" Roman peered over at Weiss over the short brunette's shoulders.

Popsicle making powers-? She'd show him! Weiss saw red as she got out of her seat, weapon in hand. "Popsicle's, huh? Tell me what your favorite flavor is so I can serve it to you. I'm guessing it tastes a lot like prison!" And with that she pointed her sword at him.

Ten minutes later, the whole store was covered in a layer of ice, Torchwick and his men iced up onto the walls and stuck there. Weiss was breathing a bit hard, from the remains of her anger and the exhaustion of casting so many ice spells.

"You okay?" Ruby asked in concern. The soft look in her eyes made Weiss blush.

"I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?" Her pride has been hurt but she didn't want Ruby knowing this.

"I mean, you look mad-"

"Rhetorical question, Ruby," Weiss gritted between clenched teeth. "Now let's call the cops and get out of here."

"Aww, my cookies!" Ruby pouted as she went to go pick them up and saw they were now frozen solid. Weiss winced at that. She had been charged with protecting Ruby's cookies and she had failed.

"I'll buy you some new ones."

"Even if they make my cheeks chubby?" Ruby asked.

Weiss winced again and busied herself with a phone call to the cops so she wouldn't have to answer. She really hated her sharp tongue sometimes.

* * *

"Dinner. Dinner with me," Weiss commanded, hands on hips and chin tilted up imperiously.

"Huh?" Ruby looked up a bit slack jawed, in the middle of devouring one of the cookies Weiss had bought her.

"Our last date- outing," Weiss coughed to cover up her mistake. "Got ruined. By Torchwick and his men. So I want to make it up to you."

"Weiss, honestly its okay-"

Weiss grit her teeth and gave a sigh. "Ruby, it's not up for discussion. When I do apologies, I do them a hundred percent. And these haven't been because of Roman, but I intend to fix that. So, get dressed, we've got a dinner reservation at six."

Ruby didn't know what to wear, she'd never been to a fancy restaurant before. So she simply put on a nice dress shirt and black slacks and showed up. Weiss was already waiting for her, dressed in all white as usual. Admitably she looked really nice in the long evening type dress. They sat down to eat, ordering their food before they started talking.

"So does this make us friends now?"

"Wha-!" Weiss sputtered nearly choking on her water. "F-friends?"

Ruby nodded her head. "Yea, friends go to dinner together. They fight bad guys together. And they talk together."

"Uh, I mean, aren't we going a bit too fast? We're not friends. Not yet."

"Oh, okay." Ruby looked like a kicked puppy and Weiss felt like kicking herself for that. It's not that she didn't want to be friends with Ruby, it's just...they'd only really been friendly with each for two months. That wasn't enough time to be friends, right?

But before Weiss could explain what she meant, there was a loud bang followed by patrons screams. "Now what?" Weiss grumbled out.

"I have come to ruin your dinner. Hands up, money out!" Roman cried out and for the love of dust-!

"How is it he's already out of prison? And why is he always interrupting our plans?" Filled with rage, Weiss pulled out her weapon and took on Roman and his henchmen all by herself as Ruby sat in her chair and watched, wincing at each villain that went flying through the air. She would hate to cross Weiss' path.

When Weiss was done, she was breathing heavily from exertion and anger. Ruby tentatively came up to her, holding two to go bags. "I uh, figure maybe it might be a good idea to eat in the dorms instead?"

Weiss nodded her head, calming down a bit. "You're right. Roman won't have a way of getting there and disrupting us." Throwing her head back over her shoulder she stepped over his prone form and the two girls went back to Beacon.

"I am...sorry that our plans didn't work out," Weiss admitted as they climbed up the stairs to their room. "I keep trying to make it up to you but it just fails each times and-"

"It's okay Weiss. I just like being able to spend time with you." Ruby flashed Weiss such a pure smile that Weiss's cheeks started burning up despite her best efforts to stop them from doing so.

"Weiss, why are you blushing?" Ruby asked innocently when she saw how flushed the other girls face was. Had she said something embarrassing?

Weiss only blushed harder at that. "I'm not blushing- you're blushing!" And then she raced off before Ruby could say anything more.

Ruby let out a tired breath. She really didn't understand Weiss sometimes.


	3. Chapter 3

**It's Not Like I Like You or Anything**

 _Chapter Three: Hmm?_

Ruby was confused.

Again.

And it had to do with Weiss.

Again.

"Yanggggg!" Ruby whined as she slammed the door open to their shared room.

Yang predictably swiveled around in her chair to face her sister. "What's up Ruby?"

Today the door slam had been confounded, which meant it had only made noise halfway, unsure if it should make any or not.

"It's Weiss. She's being all huffy and puffy again!"

"So she's mad?"

Weiss, who was passing by the room at the time, poked her head in to say: "I'm not mad!"

Ruby and Yang exchanged knowing looks. Weiss _was_ mad.

"Looks like there's another Ice Age upon us, Rubes. Better get your winter jackets and gloves."

Blake, who was sitting silently in the room and reading, diligently already had her jacket and gloves on. She'd known this would happen sooner or later.

"So what ticked her off this time? It can't be the leadership thing since she forcibly got over it." The force being Yang's death threats of course.

"I don't know. Everything was fine until now! Me and Weiss had been getting along great. We talked, we went to events. And she actually was kind of nice! But then I stopped spending as much time with her and well, she got mad."

"Why'd you stop spending time with her?" Yang inquired, in her best deductive mode. She was gonna get to the bottom of this.

"I made a new friend, Penny!" Ruby beamed at this, remembering how she and the girl had bumped into each other in front of class. Ruby had fallen on her butt, an odd metal noise issuing from Penny at the impact. The girl hadn't even moved back an inch! It had felt like running right into a metal wall, which was an odd comparison since Penny was human.

"I'm sorry," Penny had said, reaching out a hand to help Ruby up, displaying perfect manners. She'd even helped Ruby collect her knocked down books and papers. And in this way, they had struck up a conversation and from there on things had just gone smoothly. Penny had confined in Ruby that she had a hard time making friends and Ruby had admitted that she faced a familiar problem. So together they had decided to help each other make friends. So far they had only gotten around to leaving little friendly notes in their classmates lockers anonymously. Penny had read somewhere that people loved cute motivational quotes that inspired them to do well.

Ren had stared at the note that had fluttered out of his locker in confusion. "If you don't train hard, you'll become some Ursa's dinner!" There was a cute little heart drawn on at the end. "What is this?" he muttered out loud.

"Oooo! I got one too!" Nora cried out excitably off to his left. "If you don't die today you could die tomorrow so live like it's your last day, everyday!" Her happy pitch did not match with the morbid statements.

"That is extremely grim." Her's sounded even worse than his. Not that she was bothered by it. Little did faze her.

"I think it's cute. Look, I even have a tombstone drawn on mine!" She pointed it out proudly to him, getting real close to his face. He had to take a step back.

"I also got one," Jaune murmured. "Listen to your heart. When you hear it stop, seek medical attention." He shrugged. That sounded like sound advice.

Pyrrha had received a note as well. But she didn't bother to read it. "This is bad. Someone sent us all these. It's harassment to send such grim statings."

"I don't know. I think it's fine. I mean, it's just realistic advice," Jaune said, eyeing the weird squiggle on his card. It was meant to be a cursive heart but to him it looked like an elaborate W. Immediately his face blushed and he got into a dreamy state. Weiss had sent him this! She cared! She was looking out for his health! He had to write her something back as well. With a skip in his step and hearts floating around his head, he went off to go find a pen and paper.

"Where is he off to?" Pyrrha questioned, hand on her hip. Ren shook his head at his lack of information. "No idea. But let's do something about these notes."

And the team had gone to report the notes to Ozpin who made a school wide announcement saying he would relentlessly hunt down whoever was sending such dark notes as it 'decreased the moral' of students. They hadn't been found out, but Ruby and Penny had learned through that mishap, that just because you googled motivational quotes, didn't mean they were actual good ones. So the combined effort on making friends was put on the back burner for now.

Weiss still did get that letter from Jaune however, and she was confused by it. It was roughly three pages long and started off thanking her for the concern and giving condolences that her nice notes hadn't been appreciated by everyone and that he would keep it a secret. At that end he had signed his name. "Who is Jaune?" she muttered in confusion before not bothering to read the rest of it and throwing it out.

Yang's statement drew Ruby out of her long flashback. "Oh, right! I remember her. That odd girl with the bow in her hair. Whose socially inept."

Blake's ears twitched. That sure sounded a lot like her.

"Yang, she's not that weird. She just has trouble understanding some things in our modern day culture. And she says and does really funny things sometimes." Ruby had given the girl a banana as a snack and Penny had looked at it like it was a foreign object to her before she had mushed it against her eye and casually sat there, carrying on conversation. Ruby had burst out laughing, almost peeing herself in amusement. "That's not how you eat a banana!"

"Oh, I was supposed to eat it?" Penny had tilted her head in confusion. "I was not programmed to eat food. I can only consume oil."

Ruby laughed even harder at this. Her friend really was weird. "You're such an odd human, pretending you're a robot."

"Yes, odd human," Penny laughed mechanically. "And not a robot at all."

Ruby stifled a giggle at that memory and returned to the present. "But anyways, I've been spending a lot of time with Penny and I think Weiss is mad at me for that."

"I think you're right."

"I am?" This only confused Ruby more. "But why would she be mad at me about it? Does she not like Penny?"

Yang let a mischievous smile grace her lips. She had an inkling of a clue as to why Weiss was so upset Ruby was spending time with Penny. But she wasn't going to spoil it. She wanted Weiss to tell Ruby it directly. "Go talk to Weiss about it Ruby. Ask her why she's mad."

"But if I ask her that she'll get mad at me for asking. Like the whole fiasco last time!" Ruby was getting flashbacks to those awkward months. She shivered.

"Then ask her in a none obvious way."

"I guess..." Ruby didn't seem so happy at that suggestion.

"Remember Ruby, you are the team leader. I can't do all the work for you. Otherwise you'll never grow to be all wise and powerful like Ozpin."

This turned Ruby's frown upside down. She was team leader after all! It was her job to figure out her teammates moods! "Thanks Yang! You're right. As always!" Then with a quick wave she out looking for Weiss.

Blake looked at Ruby go before commenting. "I think Weiss is a bit jealous of Ruby spending time with someone else because-"

"Weiss is upset that Ruby is spending time with someone named Penny which is a poor sounding name, and that Ruby's not spending it with someone rich like her. It offends her snobby tastes," Yang explained confidentially.

"-Weiss likes Ruby," Blake finished, her voice trailing off as she absorbed what Yang had just said. She gave Yang an odd stare for a while, the blonde proudly lacing her hands behind her head.

"What?" she asked, when Blake's stare kept going on for a while.

"Do you really think that's the case?"

"Duh! Unless Weiss is mad that Ruby isn't spending time doing her work but just fooling around with Penny. It obviously can't be anything else, no other options make sense." The blonde rolled her eyes like this should be apparent.

Blake scrutinized Yang's face once more. This was the girl who was her partner? Who got into Beacon? Sighing she turned back to her book. Maybe she was the one over thinking things because she'd simply read one too many fanfictions.

Ruby zoomed into the library at top speeds, only screeching to a halt when she stopped by Weiss' usual spot. Loose papers fluttered in her wake. "Hey Weiss, are you the opposite of happy at me?"

Weiss was startled by Ruby's abrupt arrival and nearly banged her knee against the desk. "Sheesh, Ruby. Don't scare my like that," she warned, grabbing at her now floating loose papers from her seat.

"Sorry," Ruby apologized, zipping around and helping Weiss collect her papers. She handed the neat stack over to the heiress who tidied them up some more. "But are you?"

Weiss frowned. "Sad?"

"No, uh,- wait what's the opposite of mad- calm, are you calm at me?"

"Ruby, I could hear you thinking out loud. And no, I am not angry at you. It's not like I'm upset you're spending time with Penny. And I'm absolutely, a hundred percent not jealous that you choose her over me for your free time and seem to be getting along better with her than you do with me. It's not like I eavesdropped on your conversations enough times to know that." As Weiss said this she adjusted the gauze wrapped around her hurt wrist that had slipped out from hiding under her clothes. In fact all of her body had been burnt and wrapped in gauze.

The mention of eavesdropping brought up another flashback in Ruby. One in which over the past week, Penny had said some weird things while they were hanging out at the library or cafe while talking.

"Intruder detected," she would intone in a robotic voice as her eyes flashed green and her body stiffened up.

"Intruder? Is someone spying on us?"

Then Penny's head span around 180 degrees as she looked for something. "Intruder behind the bushes!" And then she'd open her eyes wide and green laser bolts came out of them, zapping something in the bushes.

A scream came from them followed by the sound of running footsteps.

"Wow!" Ruby had clapped her hands in excitement. "What a cool trick. Teach me how to spin my head like that! And are those eye lasers like your semblance? I didn't know humans could do all this!"

"Yes, humans," Penny intoned as her glowing eyes returned to normal and her head clicked back into a normal position. "But I'm afraid I cannot teach you this 'trick' because it only runs in my family."

"Aww, fine." Ruby pouted, already forging onto another topic. "But why was that person spying on us?"

Penny shook her head. "I do not know."

"Maybe it was a bad guy?"

Penny's eyes seemed to grow darker at this, her voice lower. "Then I shall protect our friendship with my life from that bad guy!"

"Cool!" Ruby missed the violent aura surrounding her new friend.

And it wasn't the last time either that they had been spied on. The only difference now that Penny would fire more intense beams from her eyes. "Lasers activated, entering lethal mode."

That quickly taught their spy a lesson given their agonized screaming. They hadn't come back since.

Ruby exited out of that flashback- man she was having so many of those. What was up with her thoughts today? She refocused on the conversation so she could give Weiss a blank look.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, so we're good?" she concluded, still confused. Weiss had said she wasn't any of those things she'd just listed but she said it in a way like she _was_ those things she'd just listed.

Weiss gave an angry huff. Ruby didn't get it all! But she had made it explicitly clear. "You're such a dunce."

"Then what am I not getting?" This was said with mild exasperation.

"I'm not going to tell you that, figure it out yourself!"

"That's not fair! I'm the team leader and I order you to tell me what's wrong!"

"You can't boss me around!"

"Well, I can, if you're being stubborn!"

"I am not stubborn!"

"You are too!"

"Then if you have a problem with me, I quit!"

This stopped Ruby cold. "You...quit?" Her bottom lip quivered.

"Yes." Weiss nodded her head coldly. "I'm quitting this team. I'm going to get Ozpin to place me on another one, where my team leader doesn't attack me personally!" She meant it in this moment. She'd pack her bags and move away...to three rooms down the hall.

Ruby didn't say anything as her big eyes filled up with tears. She hadn't wanted this. But it had all gone wrong. Then before Weiss could see her burst into tears, she ran away. It was time for plan B yet again: Cry to Yang.

Weiss sat down in her seat, letting out a shaky breath.

Anger still thrummed in her veins but it was rapidly cooling down, replaced with guilt. She'd won the argument but at what cost?

She heard the telltale sound of cracking knuckles behind her and immediately felt a shiver crawl up her back.

"Weiss," growled out the low voice, a threatening aura filling the air. The heiress didn't have to turn around to know who it was. "What did I tell you about making my sister cry?" Yang had said she didn't want to get involved but no one made her sister cry and got away with it.

"To um, not do it?" Weiss stammered as she sat frozen in her chair.

"And what did you do?"

"Make her cry?" Weiss said in a small voice.

"And what happens when you make Ruby cry?"

"I cry?" Now Weiss was sweating profusely. Would there still be time for her to write a quick goodbye letter to her family? Maybe she could write it using her blood?

"That's right." Now Yang's voice was right at her ear and Weiss let out a shrill scream as the blonde grabbed her thin shoulders.

"Please, anything but the butt! It's still sore from lasers!"

Yang of course didn't listen.

That day the students in the library had a hard time completing any of their work over the screams of one rich girl and the maniacal ramblings of a blonde.

By the end of it all, Yang had herded Weiss back to their room like a prisoner, pushing the girl's head roughly down as the heiress made her formal apology to Ruby.

The brunette had been sitting on her bed, stress eating cookies.

"I'm sorry for my earlier statements Ruby. I rescind my choice in switching teams."

"So...then you really won't leave?" Ruby asked, sniffling over her chocolate chip.

Weiss straightened up from her bow, aware of Yang looking at her pointedly. "No, I won't."

"Yay!" Ruby zoomed over and gave Weiss a big hug. Weiss let out a strangled cry of pain as all her recent injuries flared up. But she didn't mind as much as she thought because Ruby wasn't sad anymore and that was more important to her.


End file.
